Track By Tracks: THY ROW - Unchained (2021)

1. Road Goes On:

Road Goes On talks about the strength required to truly be yourself and to celebrate your own identity. This is a lifelong struggle for most of us, and it is not an easy walk to walk. It is an anthem of loving yourself and believing in your dreams, no matter how hard someone is trying to pull you down!

2. The Round:

The song is about a particular fight for friendship, brotherhood and freedom. There simply ain’t no one straining us if others decide not to let that happen. Fight for it if you want to get it, forget it if you’re not passionate enough.

3. Unchained:

This song was inspired by a trip we made a couple of years ago as a band, which turned out to be quite the ride. We were supposed to film a music video there, but things lead to another and the nature of the trip completely turned on its head. It is basically our “carpe diem anthem” of enjoying the here and now!

4. Horizons:

Horizons is about the longing we all carry inside of experiencing something new, visiting unfamiliar places and seeing the world. It is a pure rock 'n roll track fueled with the frustration of everyday BS and the desire to cut free from it!

5. Hidebound:

The song is about minorities who have to face rejection even from their own families. There’s a dialog between mother and son in this song.

6. Just Fine:

The lyrics for this song tell a story about friendship and brotherhood.

7. Down On My Knees:

Down On My Knees talks about relationships, manipulation, love, hate, laughter - all of the wide spectrum of challenges and feelings we face when settling to live with another person. It takes us through a storm of emotions, where both characters of the story accuse and repent in turns, but in the end, they both realize the strength their bond has and the preciousness of the memories they’ve made together.

8. The Downfall, Part 1: Killing All Inside:

This song starts off an epic trilogy we’ve saved as a treat at the end of the record to the listener. It is a tale of someone going through “the downfall”, a spiral of bad decisions, influences and luck. It takes the protagonist through a personal hell, and the first part talks about addiction: be it alcohol, drugs, abuse etc. This will lead us to the next layer in the next track.

9. The Downfall, Part 2: Beyond Reason:

Beyond Reason'' is the 2nd part of our trilogy “The Downfall”, the heaviest piece we’ve ever written both musically and lyrically. Beyond Reason takes off where Killing All Inside left. Our protagonist has now fallen into the deep darkness that is depression. Most of us are lucky to only experience depression in a swift burst a couple of times in our lives, but in this case, the character of our story is not so lucky. When one hates him-/herself enough and can’t seem to find anything inspiring in life anymore, trying to get out of that spiral can feel like an impossible task, even though we have no other choices but to try if we want to survive.

10. The Downfall, Part 3: Fragments Of Memory:

The third and final song in our trilogy was inspired by my grandmother’s Alzheimer’s disease. It is a very personal one for me, and I wanted to explore the topic as a kind of therapy as well, trying to imagine how it must be to go through something like that through our protagonist’s eyes. He has arrived at the final stop of the downfall, mental disease and the final numbed trip towards the end. Your persona, your memories all start to fade away, the scariness of how that must feel. We hold many things for granted in life, and just being healthy in both body and mind is something to truly be grateful of!